Reviews

To me, Civil War is easily one of the best war movies.

The movie gets darker, more intense, more terrifying from scene to scene. While we follow the protagonists on their road trip, we get closer and closer to the human abyss, to the horror of war. In this sense this movie reminds me very much of the great Apocalypse Now. Civil War is also a very special war movie as the movie is it not about a war that actually took place or is taking place but about a war in the near future which could take place. Furthermore, we do not follow soldiers as in so many of the war movies out there, but a group of war reporters. This gives the movie an additional layer and makes the neutral attitude of Civil War clear.

Also, the acting of the whole cast is fantastic, the sound design adds very well to the atmosphere of the movie and the production design let's you understand why this is A24's most expensive movie so far.

This horror movie is a representative of its genre that does not (mainly) rely on cheap jump scares to create horror. On the contrary, the movie creates horror through its atmosphere, which is created by the sets, the score, the camera, the actors and the story. There are jump scares, but very few, and the movie doesn't rely on them. For me, this puts the movie in the same category as other horror movies like The VVitch (interestingly, this movie also stars Ralph Ineson, who also plays the father in The VVitch and the score of this movie is by Mark Korven, who also created the score for the VVitch).

Maybe this horror movie is not as scary as others are but if you like horror movies like The VVitch, go and see this one.

What an intense ride this movie was! The story along the world building, acting and score drew me in from minute 1. This is what I loved about the first one and this is what I loved about this sequel! I would even say that this sequel was even more intense, more epic than the first one.

Denis Villeneuve already has proven to me that he is a great SciFi director with Blade Runner: 2049 and Arrival but with Dune he shows that he is one of the greatest for me!

If you liked Dune or SciFi in general, I think you have to watch this movie! I went to the biggest IMAX-screen in the world (Leonberg, Germany) and can only highly recommend to watch this movie on the biggest screen possible. This definitely is no movie you want to miss in cinema and have to watch at home!

After one generic action movie after another, Liam Neeson stars in a different kind of movie.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the former, this movie was a pleasant surprise for me for two reasons: first, it's a slower paced movie that's more of a drama than an action thriller. Secondly (and most importantly), there is no clear line between good and evil. Most of the characters can be seen as both saints and sinners in their own way.

I also liked the actors (besides Liam Neeson, especially Ciarán Hinds), the score and the landscape shots.

If you like Liam Neeson's earlier action movies but want to see something different with him in the lead role, you should watch this movie!

What I liked most about the movie is that unlike so many disaster movies it does not depict humans as turning into selfish monsters putting their own survival among everything and everyone else as soon as finding themselves in a survival-situation. In contrast, the story is about a group of humans trying to survive as a group. Also, the movie tells one that one cannot find help in god but in each other.

Another thing I particularly liked about the movie is the acting: although the cast is mostly unknown (from an international perspective), all members of the cast do a great job.

Overall, one of the good Netflix-originals.

"Leave the World Behind" is a special kind of doomsday movie: it doesn't explain why the "apocalypse" is coming (at least not exactly), shows the "end of the world" from a distance rather than jumping into the middle of the action, and is about "normal" people who don't know exactly how to deal with it rather than heroes who overcome it in some way.

For me, this makes the movie very intense and the characters more realistic and understandable.

What I also particularly liked about the movie is the cinematography with its reversed camera angles, which supports the apocalyptic atmosphere that the movie creates.

All in all, a successful movie!

There is a lot of negative critique on Ridley Scott's Napoleon.

Two critiques I (partly) agree on are: (i) that it is not well explained why Napoleon first succeeds and then falls, and (ii) the partly big jumps between scenes.

However, regarding cinematography, acting (especially Joaquin Phoenix's acting as Napoleon), production design and score this movie is superb!

Also, while critique (i) sometimes bothered me while watching, I got along with critique (ii) since, from my point of view, one does not necessarily need to know how the story precisely gets from one part to another as long as one is able to imagine that this jump is possible. The latter is the case with this movie.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie a lot and look forward to watch the extended version!

What stands out for me is above all the description of the protagonist which is very well played by Michael Fassbender: it is a man trying to escape his human nature by building a house of cards falling apart as soon as he finds himself in a very uncomfortable and unusual situation. This makes a multi-dimensional and comprehensible character, which stands in contrast to so many other action movies depicting only rough and never mentally struggling characters.

Apart from this the cinematography (e.g., David Fincher again creates very appealing opening credits), the design (especially the first scene in Paris) and the score (which is not in your face but continuously build up tension) are - as one expects it from David Fincher - well executed.

After the series Undercover and the movie Ferry this series is the third series/movie Netflix dedicates to the gangster Ferry (of course the series Undercover was not entirely centred around him) taking place between the first two.

This series maintains the quality of the first two. Hence, if you watched and liked the first two you will not be disappointed by this series.

The cinematography, design and acting are very good. But two things really stand out for me: first, in contrast to most Gangster/Drug stories taking place in the U. S. and/or South America this series (as well as its predecessors of course) takes place in Western Europe. Second, this series frequently tells background stories of main (supporting) characters, which makes the actions and emotions of these characters very comprehensible.

All in all a very good series!

This movie is a legal drama with so many layers: it touches upon Corporate-America, the American Dream, the greatest generation, inequality in general, racial inequality, racism, ... Besides these many economic and social topics it is also about a friendship between very different men, at least on first glance.

In addition to these many layers which are well connected from my point of view the acting is very good. Jamie Foxx performs so well an energetically, just as he did with his previous movie They Cloned Tyrone. Tommy Lee Jones is surprisingly calm in this movie but in a very good way which works well in combination with the acting of Jamie Foxx.

Also the design of the movie as well as story telling are very well done.

The only one drawback of this movie from my point of view is that the antagonists are described a little bit superficial.

Overall, one of the best legal dramas I have seen.

Superior cast, where especially DiCaprio and De Niro (who by the way both have acted in so many movies of Scorsese but now for the first time together) work so well together.

Superior cinematography, where the black-and-white quadratic shots give you a feeling of authenticity.

Superior score, which is not in-your-face but rather builds tension in a subtle way.

Superior story telling, which lets you get invested in the story very easily and lets you forget that the movie is over three hours long.

In conclusion this movie is simply superior to me! It easily ranks among my most favourite Scorsese movies!

In my point of view this movie sheds light on two social problems in the US namely the opioid epidemic and the treatment of veterans which are combined very well.